Don't Look Back: Orpheus and Eurydice
by Annie B. Jackson
Summary: Based on the myth about Orpheus and Eurydice. Set in modern times.
Orpheus and Eurydice:

The day of the wedding was finally here. Excitement filled the air and inside my stomach butterflies were swirling. I wondered for the millionth time if I had made a mistake marrying Orpheus. His music was the first thing that had drawn me in, like all his other fans. In one of his concerts, Orpheus noticed me in a sea of people and I was invited up on the stage so he could serenade me. The rest was history. I loved Orpheus's music; it made me feel happy and hopeful on the worst of days.

I slipped into her cream colored, fluffy dress and touched up my makeup for the last time. Plenty of people had called me lovely, some even told me I was beautiful, but all I saw was a stressed woman in a white dress. I walked slowly out of the room down a long, light hall. Sun streamed through the high windows; it was a perfect day to have a wedding. I rounded the corner and saw my father waiting patiently for me.

"Ready to go?" My father enthusiastically asked.

"Yes," I glided toward her father, gripped his forearm, and we both strolled out the doorway. I first noticed Orpheus, standing tall and confidant, his strong build in a tailored suit. He was smiling at me with his eyes sparkling. I gazed to the left and right; sitting in the folding chairs were thousands of people. All eyes were on the us. This wedding was a huge deal for most people, as Orpheus and his music were well known and well loved.

I walked slowly and gracefully down the aisle, the notes to Pachelbel's canon floating around me. I stepped up on the gazebo, but right before I planted both feet on it, something green and brown flashed before my eyes. It was a long skinny creature with a forked tongue. As I opened my mouth to scream, the snake bit me under my dress on the calf. I crumpled to the ground and my vision faded to black.

The crowd broke into chaos.

My trip to the underworld was terrible. I fell down, down, down a pitch black spiral. I landed in a dim, gloomy cave; beside me was a dirty wide river flowing through the cave.

"Come," an eerie voice from behind me spoke.

I jumped and turned around. It was a man, his face shrouded in shadows by a hood.

I mustered some courage, "Where am I?" I asked.

He didn't answer but beckoned me to follow him. He walked toward a gondola-like boat on the river and stepped on it. I stepped on the boat and it jerked forward and began to move. The river flowed through a long, dark cave. Every so often it would bubble and a child's toy or a photo would appear. These broken fragments of memories made me feel nostalgic and sad. I wondered where they came from.

I looked down at myself. I was still wearing my wedding dress, but it was ripped and there were splotches of mud on it. There goes 5,000 dollars, I thought.

The boat floated down the river, and the small cave opened into a huge cavern. It could fit all of Manhattan in it. I stared around in bewilderment. Right when I entered, an obsidian, black castle towered above me. To my far right, there was a huge pit; it radiated darkness and despair. I trembled and shivered as we passed. Far to my right was a field with trees scattered throughout. I could see movement, but it all looked so grey and blurry. Past the castle was a long red plain. Figures were being whipped and beaten while others were doing hard, physical labor. Every so often I would hear high pitched screams of terror and moaning wails.

I was in hell.

The gondola finally stopped in front of the castle.

"We're here," the hooded man announced.

I stepped off the boat and walked up the marble steps. There were two guards standing in front of the doors, but instead of being human-like guards, they were skeletons. I walked numbly through the doors and walked through a long dim hallway. The skeletons were walking behind me and my teeth couldn't stop clattering. We walked until we came to a huge throne room. My eyes drew to a man slouching on a throne. He looked at me with interest and curiosity. His demeanor was dark and heavy; it didn't help that he wore all black and gave off an aura of despair, death, and deep power. He was skinny but also quite handsome with deep, dark eyes and a long elegant nose. He looked like what I thought the devil would look like.

"Eurydice," his voice filled the room, "Died from a snake bite."

"That's me," I said in a small, meek tone with no confidence, "And yes I did."

To his right a woman had appeared. She was stunning, with golden hair, hazel eyes, and youthful skin. Her lips were bright red and she had on a blue Greek toga. Golden bands encircled her upper arm. She regarded me with a bored expression, like she was telling me that I was no threat to her. Like the man, she radiated power, but this power was not as dark. It strangely reminded me of summer days.

"Orpheus's wife-to-be," the man stated in a loud voice.

"Yes," I said.

"You're Orpheus's wife?" The beautiful woman asked incredulously.

"You know about him?" I asked even more surprised.

"Of course, his music is the best. Why would he choose you to be his wife when there are so many more attractive women in this world?"

The man cleared his throat. which was a good thing; I would have said some offensive things to that pompous woman if he hadn't.

"Since you have done nothing remarkably good nor bad in your life, you are sentenced to spend your days as a spirit in the Fields of Asphodel," the man said.

With that I was whisked away by unseen forces to the huge meadow that I had seen minutes before. They dropped me off and I fell to the ground. The meadow I was in was grey; the trees were grey, the ground was grey, even the leaves were grey. I felt like I was staring at a black and white movie. There were some people like me - fully human - but most of them were spirits, faint wisps of air and smoke. Occasionally two or three of the beings would start chattering unintelligibly to each other, but the conversation would soon end abruptly and they would walk off. Most of the people and spirits in the field were alone, either sitting under a tree or wandering aimlessly. The grey light made me feel tired, but my mind was working overdrive to process everything. I walked to the nearest tree and sat down. Thoughts swirled around in my head, mostly about this place, some about Orpheus, and some about the powerful man and selfish woman I had talked to. I needed answers to the many questions I had. A more human figure walked past so I took the chance.

"What are we doing here?" I asked him.

The man just stared at me for a few seconds and then walked away. I sighed in frustration. I wished I had someone to talk to here. But mostly, I wish I had Orpheus. Even though I knew he wouldn't be much help here, I would still enjoy his company. As I sat under the tree, spirits seemed to stare at me. I needed some privacy so I stood up and looked around for a place that was safe and private to rest in peace. Around 200 meters away was a small cave in a stone cliff. I walked toward the cave and the amount of creatures seemed to thin out to my relief.

I entered the cave and was surprised and happy to see that there were no spirits hanging around in there, but what I saw in the dark corner had me even more surprised. It was a man chained to a rock, bleeding and sweating. He finally noticed me and gasped, his eyes pleading for freedom. I looked around for anything to break or unlock the chains but I couldn't find anything. I realized I still had my hair pins from my wedding so I took one out of my hair. I wiggled the pin around in the lock and the lock popped open to my happy amazement.

"Water," the man gasped in a raspy, dry voice.

I looked around for water and noticed a trickle of it coming from a hole in the ceiling so I half dragged, half pulled the man over to it. He tilted his head up and the water trickled into his mouth. After a few minutes, he seemed O.K. to start talking. I asked who he was but he didn't seem to remember much, or at least he didn't care to remember. I began to ask him other questions.

"Where are we?" I asked, even though I knew the answer. We were in hell.

"Hades, the underworld," he answered with a sigh.

I opened my mouth in shock. There was no such place as the Underworld; it was only in myths.

"But the underworld is only mentioned in Greek myths and myths are not real," I said pointedly.

"Well they're as real as I'm breathing right now," he answered.

I examined him closely. He did not look like someone who would tell crazy lies, and he certainly didn't look like a lunatic to me, simply a tired and haggard man.

"So does this mean that all Greek myths are real?" I asked with curiosity.

"Yes."

I thought back to the few Greek myths I had read; the underworld certainly fit the description of here. And for now, until something proved me wrong, I would believe this man, despite not knowing him.

"Then who was the man I met when I first came here?"

"Hades, god of the underworld."

That would also explain his powerful and dark aura. And it would also explain why I was afraid of him; he was the god of the Underworld and the dead, which meant he could control both.

So are we dead?" I inquired gravely.

"You most likely are but I am not. I was coming down here and I got caught by one of the harpies. They brought me here and chained me to this rock. And I was left to die."

"Oh."

So there was no hope for me. I was dead. Tears bubbled in my eyes. I could have been married right now, driving away on my honeymoon, but because of one snake, I ended up here, dead, and left to drift aimlessly like all the rest of the spirits in the underworld.

The man broke the silence, "Come, let's get out of the cave."

We both stood up and walked out of the cave and back into the grey light. The underworld had grown eerily silent. There were no more screams and wails. It was like the silence you hear in a thunderstorm before the lightning strikes.

Then I heard the music.

Warmth enveloped me and goosebumps covered my skin. It was the sensation I felt whenever I heard Orpheus's music. Tears came to my eyes, but this time they were from pure joy finding a way to leak from my body. Something came with the music; it was hope. Hope of getting out of this horrible place. I saw Orpheus round the corner. He was walking tall and straight. Demons and other horrible monsters had gathered around him but he was looking straight at me, gazing at me with bitter heartache and scared fierceness. He was strumming his guitar and singing lyrics to a heartbreaking song. I began to run toward him, but a hand gripped my arm tightly. I turned around and it was the man I had met in the cave except his whole body was changing. It was like his outer coating was slowly melting and slipping off. It took only a few moments for the man to change completely.

Standing there was Hades, god of the underworld.

I stared at him in terror.

"Don't go to him," he said fiercely.

I turned to see if Orpheus had moved. He was a few meters away from me and staring at Hades and I with a confused look on his face. He closed the space between us and grabbed my arm.

"We're getting out of here," Orpheus said forcefully.

"No so fast," Hades declared, "You can take her, but when you are walking back, you must not look back at Eurydice when you are going up to Earth. If you do, she will come right back here."

"Do I have any choice in this?" I exclaimed incredulously.

Orpheus and Hades both glanced at me with varying degrees of pity. Then they both glared back at each other. This staring match seemed to go on forever, when finally Orpheus sighed.

"I'll take the deal," Orpheus complied.

Orpheus glanced at me. "Follow me closely," he said.

"Fine." I huffed .

He began to walk away and strum his guitar. I followed him and looked back at Hades, he had a grim, sad expression on his face. I nodded to him and hurried to catch up with Orpheus. We walked through the Field of Asphodel and the spirits gathered around us. We walked past Hades' palace and on a bridge over the river that had taken me here. As we walked, demons and all kinds of monsters gathered around and watched with fascination and curiosity. I was surprised to see tears sparkling in some of their eyes and others sighed happily.

Orpheus faltered at the long set of stairs leading to the world above, but then he plowed on. I followed a few meters, content to just listen to his music. Every day before I had come here I would listen to it - on the radio, at his concerts, or sometimes when I was lucky he would come to my apartment and sing personally for me. I thought back to our relationship. I was so happy when he had proposed to me, and days up to the wedding were filled with excitement and happiness. Even though I knew he loved me then, sometimes I thought his music had taken priority. I accepted that love. But in the underworld I had done some thinking. Should I really allow myself to be second best? My thoughts were interrupted when Orpheus abruptly stopped on the steps.

"Eurydice," he shouted uncertainly.

Something stopped me just then from speaking, Maybe it was my experiences in the underworld or maybe it was all the thinking I had done when I was walking behind him.

"Eurydice," he said in a shaky tone.

I wondered if I had made the right decision marrying him after all; it's not like I wanted to go back to the underworld, but I wondered if marrying him would be a good decision. Would I always be second best?

But I didn't get to make up my mind. His head turned.

I didn't get to see his face before the darkness enveloped me, the same darkness that surrounded me the day I died.

Hades greeted me when I returned.

"How are you doing?" Hades said softly.

"Why should you care? You probably planned this entire thing out," I accused him.

I walked away, back to the horrid Fields of Asphodel. Then something hit me. He obviously had some feelings for me, but maybe I could use those feelings. I turned around and strode back toward him.

"Give me one more chance," I begged,

"No, that's out of the question,"

"Please, let me do it my way"

Hades paused for a few seconds, considering the thought.

He looked me in the eyes, "Will you do it right this time?

I nodded.

"And when you die and come back here, there will be no second chances.

I nodded my head vigorously. My eyes were begging him to say yes.

He sighed and grabbed my hand. Once again the world faded to black and my consciousness drifted to shadows.

The sun shined through the trees as I walked down the aisle hanging on to my father's arm. Memories of the underworld still swirled around my head, but I decided to enjoy this moment. I was ecstatic that Hades had agreed to let me come back, but I still did not know what would happen between me and Orpheus. The crowd of people looked at me expectantly as I walked forward. Orpheus was standing at the gazebo smiling with an innocence that made me think the past few weeks had not happened. He looked exactly like he had the day of my wedding weeks before. I stepped up on the gazebo and no snake came this time, only silence. The priest began to speak and after a long sermon about marriage, he got to the important part.

"Do you take this woman as your lawfully wedded wife?"

"Yes," Orpheus beamed at me.

"And do you take this man as your lawfully wedded husband?"

Should I? He came back for me when I was in the underworld, which showed a lot of courage. But he also sent me right back to the underworld all because he couldn't hear my voice. And what about his music. Would it always be a priority over me? Or maybe music was his way of showing love.

"Yes, I do."

The crowd cheered and Orpheus leaned, closing the space between us.

"You are now pronounced husb-"

"Stop right now," shouted a man, standing up from one of the seats. To my shock, it was Hades looking like he was about to kill someone. Did he still have power now that he was no longer in the underworld? I hoped with all my heart the answer was no. Orpheus took a step in front of me,

"Let me deal with this," I whispered.

The crowd had gone silent and some of the babies had begun to cry.

"You weren't supposed to choose him," Hades announced bitterly.

"I chose who I wanted, and in the end I made things right for me."

"But what about when he betrayed you on the steps?" Hades asked.

"I forgave him," I said, "You should try it sometime."

A woman appeared from behind a tree. It was the same woman from the underworld. She looked irritated and slightly jealous as she looked at Hades arguing with me.

"Persephone," Hades exclaimed gruffly, "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Persephone replied cooly, "It is clear that you have been meddling with this woman's life. You don't want to turn out like Aphrodite now do you."

Hades turned red with rage. "I-I'm no Aphrodite," he sputtered.

"Let's just go back to the underworld, where we came from," she said in a placating tone, "and forget about this whole ordeal."

Persephone gave me a knowing look and she winked at Orpheus. Then she grabbed Hades' hand and they both disappeared to shadows.

Once they were both gone, the crowd relaxed. I announced that the reception was in the building behind us and they moved out. Orpheus and I finally had time alone.

"So what was that all about?" he asked.

I smiled, glad that it was all over, at least for now, "Well, it all started with a snake bite."

I told the entire story, including every detail I could think of - what the underworld looked like, who the man was who had invaded our wedding, and so on. Orpheus looked shocked at some parts, sad at some parts, and angry at others. I knew it was a lot for him to handle. I finally finished the long retelling of the story. We sat on the gazebo in silence for a few seconds as I waited for Orpheus to process it all.

"So do you remember anything of this?" I finally asked.

He shook his head mournfully, "I wish I was there with you; better yet I wish I was the one that had gotten bit by the snake, because at least Hades wouldn't have fallen in love with me."

I smirked, "But Persephone might have."

We laughed. It felt so good to be with him at this moment, no fans asking for his autographs, and no paparazzi chasing us.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you something," Orpheus looked at me with his sparkling eyes, "I made a promise to myself before the wedding, I'm going to take a break from music for awhile, just to spend more time with you."

I beamed at him. "Thank you, you don't know how much that means to me," I said happily.

He grabbed my hand and together we walked down the gazebo steps and into the reception. And the years after our wedding were happy. I never regretted my decision, and I definitely never looked back.


End file.
